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March 16th, 2009
06:59 pm - According to my OB...
...as of my appointment this afternoon, I am 2cm dilated.
This doesn't mean the baby will necessarily be particularly soon - it could be weeks still - but it does mean that the risk of something going wrong / ending up with a C-section is now much lower. In particular, if for some reason the baby is induced, my risk of a C-section will be no higher than in the absence of induction.
And it makes it seem at least a little bit more possible that the baby might really be here pretty soon....
Exciting!
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May 20th, 2008
07:05 am - How we react to shocking things, and why, in an example that matters.
This may be the most fascinating and important look at how both members of the military and of the public have reacted to the military scandals of the past several years that I've ever read.
I find myself almost distracted by the skill with which so many different ways of looking at an event are drawn together to achieve an actually meaningful and important conclusion... except, of course, that it's not just a show piece, it's in and of itself a critically important issue.
(Mrs. Scarborough, I'd be particularly curious to hear your reactions, if any jumped to mind...!)
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October 20th, 2007
02:40 pm - very slightly alternate world
I just spent a few moments incredibly frustrated that my keyboard wasn't working at all - several times in a row, I hit "Shift-1", but instead of the roman number "I" that I wanted to see appear, all I got was a stupid symbol ("!"). What was wrong with the capital numbers?!
Reminds me of elementary school, after we'd first learned cursive, when I kept explaining to my mother that they'd left something out, when were we going to learn cursive numbers? She explained that there weren't any, but I was pretty sure she had to be wrong, because it just seemed so clear that there ought to (and there for must!) be.
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June 16th, 2007
09:34 pm - My news!
For those I haven't talked with yet, with apologies for not calling directly...!
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May 28th, 2007
09:25 am
Well. Just before the it's-been-a-year-I-guess-it's-officially-over mark, I figured, hey, what am I doing? Without a blog, I might have no identity left! It could happen. I heard it happened to this one guy, one time, that my friend's neighbor knew....
Two thoughts, then:
1) In general, life is good.
I'm painting my place 3 square feet at a time, and it's unbelievable how much trouble I have committing to paint colors, but it sure does look better. Those 9 square feet I've done so far, I mean.
I'm reading Freud's views on religion (thanks, Uchenna and Brent!), which is surprisingly delightful. The man is actually funny! He has conversations with himself, where he asks himself a question: "...would you care to elaborate on this?" and then answers it: "With pleasure! In fact, I was only waiting for the invitation...."
What with going to Home Depot so often to buy new paint colors since I as soon as I put one on the wall I realize I hate it and need a new one, I've gotten sucked in to the mad spring rush and put plants on the deck. Only edible ones, though, so it's still managing to be political, sort of, rather than domestic. I hope. Anyways, it's bizarre how much I like having them there. I mean, really really weird - I am stressed and anxious, and I go out and sit on the deck, and look around, and I can feel my breathing start to change. I'm starting to think those people who write about how green things and bodies of water convey subliminal messages that things are ok were actually on to something. Or perhaps it just helps me feel like I'm back in the green, green city of my birth? Either way: wow, I love fresh basil!
2) It's memorial day.
In honor of memorial day, here's an article that made me stop and think. It's by Andrew Bacevich, a professor of History and International Relations at Boston University, a vet, and a well known, long-standing vocal opponent of the war in Iraq. His son, who enrolled in ROTC in college, was killed earlier this month in Iraq. The article itself is about his duty as a citizen vs his duty as a father vs his son's duty as a soldier.
Best wishes on the holiday.
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August 8th, 2006
01:48 pm - VOTE!
St. Louis locals: remember to vote today! So far, turnout is incredibly low. In general not a good thing - but means your vote will really count! Important issues on the ballot include whether or not the small tax that is the primary source of income for keeping up all St. Louis parks will be renewed for another 10 years or allowed to expire, as well as a pretty contentious race for the 4th district missouri senate position (the one Jeff Smith is in).
Also, sorry for the loooong gap with no posts. Will get right on that. Um, soon. -ish. I hope.
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July 10th, 2006
11:58 pm - JASON: this one is for you....
Jason, there are two things lately that I've read and thought of you:
1) A terribly annoying article in Time or Newsweek (I can never keep them straight) that I read at the gym about "Why don't we have a Voice of Our Generation for Our Generation?" If you want to be annoyed, you should read it. Oh, wait - I found it with a quick google, in case you actually DO want to be annoyed: it's here.
2) I just came across a quote I thought you might appreciate:
One of my greatest pleasures in writing has come from the thought that
perhaps my work might annoy someone of comfortably pretentious position.
Then comes the saddening realization that such people rarely read. -John
Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006)
(Why, the general reader may be asking, am I making this a post rather than an email? Well, I thought perhaps other people would enjoy the quote, too. Also, I can't find Jason's email address.)
Ok, back to my own life now....
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July 6th, 2006
08:55 am - the most amusing quote from this morning's news
" 'George is not an overly introspective person,' his wife, Laura, once said with dry understatement... "
(from nytimes article on Bush's 60th birthday)
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July 5th, 2006
01:45 pm - dead birds
In the past two weeks I have, I think, seen more dead birds scattered about the city than in the past 10 years combined. It's possible that it's chance - eg, I just happened to see two close together in time and then became hyper-alert to dead birds and noticed many more I would have missed - but I kind of doubt it.
Makes me wonder if we'll start seeing "new west nile strain hits st louis" headlines or something popping up soon.
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July 2nd, 2006
04:39 pm - some good things.
I thought I'd post some good things I've learned of of late:
* You know that new pseudafed that replaced the old pseudafed in an attempt to combat meth? You know how it doesn't work at all? Well, I finally learned the other day that you don't have to settle for it - you can still buy the old pseudafed if you just go to the counter and ask for it!
* Although I worry a lot lately about the decline of the US economy and social security and fear for a future where the dollar is worth little but investments also provide small returns and the elderly are destitute... and although I tend to translate those worries into behaviors like investing in paying off my mortgage rather than investing more in mutual funds in my IRA... well, I finally set down the other day and calculated what my investing history is at this point: despite having started investing in April 2000 just before the entire market crashed, I have during my entire investing history averaged 12% annualized returns over the 6 years since this time. I'm still pretty pessimistic about the future, but... I also think I should spend more time being glad for the extent to which things still currently are good, at the same time.
* The most recent supreme court decision (that Bush's declarations of military tribunals are illegal) makes me really very happy. When my father and I discussed it, he mentioned reading about the reaction of the actual client to the verdict, which was total shock - almost as if this entire time it had just never occurred to him that he might actually be able to sue the president and WIN. And we shouldn't overlook this shock - because as much as I'm frustrated by what seem to me like recent failings in our system, it IS still amazing that it works at all. As his lawyer said, "It is a source of pride for the American court system that a man like Salim Ahmed Hamdan can sue the president of the United States in the highest court of the land without having to fear for his life." Now, we can add to that "and win!"
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June 24th, 2006
01:21 pm - minimum wage
Today in the nytimes I read this letter to the editor:
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To the Editor:
Re "Afflicting the Afflicted" (editorial, June 23):
I'm stunned that Congress, controlled by Republicans for most of the last decade, has been able to keep a minimum-wage increase at bay. If it is so convinced that $5.15 an hour is a livable wage, I propose a constitutional amendment setting representatives' salaries at the minimum wage.
If it's good enough for the rest of the country, it's good enough for Congress.
Henry Woronicz
Bloomington, Ind., June 23, 2006
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Here's what I don't get: why is there this implicit assumption on the part of pro-minimum wage and pro-living wage people that if for whatever reason the work you can do at this point in your life isn't worth enough to anyone for that person to pay you enough money for you to live somewhat comfortably on then it's better if you just give up and don't work for pay at all? It doesn't make any sense.
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June 19th, 2006
07:23 am - portraits
The nytimes has an interesting article about a series of paintings of burn victims. They're worth looking at.
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May 22nd, 2006
08:44 am - ok, I can't leave it on a good note, I'd be confused about my identity all day....
Well, now that I've started I can't stop again. Check out this quote from the New York Times' article Gonzales Says Prosecutions of Journalists Are Possible:
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"Mr. Gonzales said that the administration promoted and respected the right of the press that is protected under the First Amendment.
"'But it can't be the case that that right trumps over the right that Americans would like to see, the ability of the federal government to go after criminal activity,' he said. 'And so those two principles have to be accommodated.'
"Mr. Gonzales sidestepped a question concerning whether the administration had been reviewing reporters' telephone records in an effort to identify their confidential sources."
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Say what? It's "can't be the case" that the first ammendment protection still applies if it gets in the way when the government wants to pursue something it thinks could count as criminal activity? It seems like Gonzolas must have missed the part of 5th grade where we learned what "rights" were supposed to be about (and the bits about the point of the revolution and all).
And if you want to read something that will REALLY make you simultaneously depressed and furious at our government's incompetence and the disastrous consequences that are currently resulting, even if you think you already know roughly what's going on in Iraq, Misjudgments Marred U.S. Plans for Iraqi Police will still leave you aghast.
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06:30 am - Good news?!
I haven't posted in a long time. Mostly because I'm lazy.
But, I was so startled by this, I thought I'd finally break the no-posting streak and see what people thought of this:
Report: Ozone Hole May Disappear by 2050
Is this possible? There's actually hope that working together as a species to reform our behavior is actually potentially going to repair something that's been a threat since I was in elementary school? Maybe I've been more cynical lately than I'd realized, because I find the very thought amazing!
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March 30th, 2006
06:56 am - jerusalem, day 1....
Well, I'm officially in Israel now. I arrived yesterday morning sick as a dog, hacking and sniffling with hot and cold flashes. I found a hostel (none of the ones listed in my book that I looked for seemed to exist anymore, but it wasn't hard to find another) and dumped my stuff, went and got some food (I have no idea what I ate - some sort of Arabic food, with I think gyro meat - but boy, it was good!), and then tried to sit at a cafe to read... but I just couldn't keep my eyes open. Literally. So I came home and went to bed - at 4:30pm. I just woke up a little bit ago, at about 6:45am, and I'm still sick, but much less so - yay! Now I'm waiting for the hot water to come on (7:30am) to take a shower - and in the meantime I have the hostel's one computer all to myself! I might just get up this early every night!
Things I noticed from yesterday... hmmmm.
First off, I took this winding route into the city from the airport, which was actually nice, because I got a tour of a lot of random suburbs. They look just like Jordanian suburbs. Like, if it weren't for the occasional Israeli flag, or the men walking around with tophats and sidelocks, I probably couldn't have told you I wasn't in Jordon.
On a related point: while the orthodox men look very different from Muslim men, it's also interesting to me that the orthodox women in some ways dress and look very similar to Muslim women - keeping entirely covered, including hair (although you're allowed to wear a wig instead of another hair covering, I am realizing).
I had to buy a new alarm clock yesterday (the one task I managed before collapsing into bed), since the one I'd brought with me inexplicably completely failed to work. I just got a cheap plastic $5 one from a watch-and-jewlery store a couple blocks down (my hostel is on Jaffa street right where King George street breaks off of it, so I'm right in the middle of a lot of stuff going on - and where my book's characters walk several times a chapter!), and the man who sold it to me was so nice... he took it down, and opened it up and showed me all the features (how to set the alarm, how to turn the alarm on and off, how to turn the little light on, how to snooze it...) and very carefully set the time for me and then put a battery in it from his store of them before sealing it all up again for me. I can see how if this is what you are used to, buying something at Target or Walmart can be a bit of a frustrating, saddening experience.
There's a woman at my hostel who's been here for a month - she is from Jerusalem, but lost her job (?) and had to give up her apartment, and so moved in here while trying to find a new job & apartment. She did find work, and starts Sunday, and says she can't wait to have enough saved to get an apartment. Apparently, apartments here are expensive - $500-600 for two rooms (note that this is NOT two bedrooms). I guess this might not seem quite as outrageous for you Seattlites, but coming from St. Louis prices it's a lot - and given that you can find hostels for $8-15 a night, and a meal for $3, so I'm guessing salaries are not comiserately high.
Ok, I'm hungry. To food!
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March 22nd, 2006
04:24 am - Odds and Ends
I realized the other day that although I entertain myself rather frequently while walking around or working or waiting for the bus or whatnot with thoughts about what witty and insightful and fascinating tidbits I will soon put into my livejournal, I rarely actually get around to typing them out for real.
At a meeting at the mayor's office last week, with lots of people in nice cloths looking very serious, I was struck by how often the word "task" is used as a verb by some people: as in, "Our committee was tasked with examining the implications of the potential policy shift under consideration...."
My work looked briefly to be going better, but then took a sharp turn for the worse last night. It's disturbing how much my mood & general outlook on life tends to swing along with it. Need to stop that.
Israel has fallen back out of the news, making me calmer about the fact I'm supposed to be there in less than a week (yay!!). Although I did have a long and stressful dream last night about having missed my flight and then after spending 20 hours waiting in various lines at the airport trying to get onto other flights being told that it was utterly impossible. The dream felt about 20 hours long, and I had trouble shaking my frustration / disappointment when I woke up. Also, I haven't even started making the poster I need to print out in time to take with me to present there. That's bad. I need to do that. But, I need to get some data to put on that poster, first....
I learned last night that the state in which I live (Missouri) has the longest running history of voting for the winning Presidential candidate of any state, having made only one deviation (Adali Stevenson - which is understandable, I think, seeing as he was pushed by Truman, our hometown man) since 1904. I also learned that St. Louis city has significantly more women than men, has the 5th largest medical center in the world (the one I work at), and is a majority-african-american city. (Thanks, wikipedia!)
Sometimes I sit and repeatedly hit the refresh button on bloglines around this time of night, waiting for the new Dilbert to be listed. Is that a bad sign?
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March 4th, 2006
08:29 pm - And in a new first....
Last night, I actually played two songs at an open mic night with two other people (another guitarist and a fiddle player) from my class. We were all rather terrified, and I'm sure it showed. I was dreading it for hours (these things really scare me), but there were no disasters - I even got through my solo part fine! - and when it was done I was elated, out of relief if nothing else. I called and told my grandmother, who was highly amused.
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March 2nd, 2006
04:24 pm - Guitar
My guitar has shipped. It is due to arrive Saturday. I am very. very. excited.
Also, I am set to play guitar semi-publically on two separate occasions this month. I'm a little confused. This is so unlike me. What's going on? Why am I inflicting my terrible playing upon innocent bystanders? I keep telling myself I'm just trying to help those I'm playing with sound good by comparison....
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February 7th, 2006
01:16 am - my favorite joke!
I just stumbled across my all time favorite joke from my childhood. Well, after the year or so it took me to get over the hilarity of "So, a man walks into a bar, and says 'Ouch!'" - which is strange, given that I was like 8 and had no idea that "So, a man walks into a bar" was actually a standard start to a joke. Perhaps that's why I was finally able to get over the oneliner for one at the opposite end of the spectrum: The Clown Joke. Oh, how funny I thought this joke was!! The hilarity!
The version my brother and I told each other was a bit different than this one (our punch line was worded very very slightly differently, but far superiorly, for example... oh, and most of the middle is completely different, and longer, too. Well, and the beginning, also.), but otherwise, the structure's pretty much the same!
You know, I still find it pretty darn funny, actually....
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February 1st, 2006
01:44 pm - new phone!!
It's official. I have a new fanciest-ever cell phone / tiny little computer.
Two weeks ago, my cell phone died. Well, not quite - but it fell apart to the point where it had to be held together with a rubber band, which made things like, oh, say answering it rather difficult. Since I only use a cell phone, and I give the number out as both my home and work number, I needed a replacement fast.
For months, I'd been toying with the idea of getting a PDA phone - in part because I just love gadgets, in part because I want constant email & google access for no good reason, and in part because I have over the past year developed a new skill: I can actually concentrate on one thing for long periods of time. Now, in some ways, this is great! For example, I can get a lot more work done. But it seems to have come at the cost of having shut off that little circuit in my head that checked back every couple of minutes, asking, "Is there anything else I need to be doing right now? What else do I have scheduled for later today? What's my next deadline, anyways?" Which meant that for the first time in my life, I was becoming one of those people who was regularly missing meetings, or double booking myself, or just forgetting all about what I'd promised someone months ago I'd do. Anyways, it had occurred to me that a PDA phone could deal with at least some of these problems. And so as long as I was being forced to get a new phone fast... and sprint has a deal where if you get a new phone you can try it for 14 days and see what you think of it and still return it if you want for your money back... and my contract was up already, so I would get the full contract-signing discount on whatever I purchased... I decided to leap. I got: the new (well, within the last couple of months) Sprint Pocket PC PPC-6700. You should follow that link. It's so pretty!
Anyways, it has some drawbacks - it's clunky, and it's hard to dial quickly with one hand, and sometimes its windows OS does funky things - but, after 2 weeks I'm already having trouble remembering very clearly how I existed without it. It's screen is huge (for a phone); it can switch between wi-fi, the EvDO network, and a regular cellular line; I can get unlimited data transfer with sprint's $15 a month plan; it can talk to my computer or an earpiece or a fullsized keyboard with bluetooth; it has a 1.3 megapixel camera (that I used last week to take pictures of my rig to send to someone designing me manipulator equipment)... it can even record a copy of each of the songs we learn in my ensemble class, so that I can remind myself of the melody or even play along with it while I'm practicing! I have started taking notes on it on the seminars I'm attending - which I can then log and move to my computer, where they will be searchable for evermore. Basically, it's making me a better person in every way.
So, I am going to let the 14 day line pass without returning it.
PPC-6700, welcome to the family!
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